Reader preferences on dark elves' looks?

naosu

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Wanted to ask which kind of view readers prefer on how dark elf appearances look like for fantasy stories?

Do they prefer like a tanned skin look like Japanese anime does for them? Or more like a traditional AD&D light blue skin look?
 

gogo7966

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dark elves with blue-grey skin are cool and unique while any old elf can have dark skin
 

Cipiteca396

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I like the purple/lavender skin.
But I also like the idea of racial diversity, either by chance or through House conflicts. So one House would have purple skin, one would have blue, one would have grey/black, another would be tan(possibly used as infiltrators to the surface races).

The tan is probably my least favorite though, because it makes it hard to distinguish them from surface elves who just happen to not be white.
 

CupcakeNinja

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Wanted to ask which kind of view readers prefer on how dark elf appearances look like for fantasy stories?

Do they prefer like a tanned skin look like Japanese anime does for them? Or more like a traditional AD&D light blue skin look?
I dont give a fuck what their skin looks like as long as they got that mad MILF energy.

I'm talking huge mommy milkers and an ass like mochi.
 

Discount_Blade

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I ALWAYS go with either the off-blue color if I'm not using Moon Elves which are a darker blue
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Or I use the gray skin color. There are some fics that just call them "Gray Elves" and I suppose this works too.




Anyway, I never use black or tanned. To me, Tanned is better for Wood Elves. I never use black for anything but Orcs since in Warhammer and LOTR, Black Orcs are the strongest, biggest variant of Ork. Purple works too though for Dark Elves since thats what World of Warcraft used for Dark Elves. Purple. I don't use it. Someone said Red...but red is use for Blood Elves....though I've seen some people call them Fire Elves which is just weird.
 

LordJoyde

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I prefer to differ moon elves, sun elves and dark elves. Moon = purplish lavender skin, Dark elves = greyish/ashen skin and Sun = ebony~
 

CupcakeNinja

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I prefer to differ moon elves, sun elves and dark elves. Moon = purplish lavender skin, Dark elves = greyish/ashen skin and Sun = ebony~
Why would sun elves be ebony, and not the golden we see from Skyrim's elves?
 

Echimera

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I kind of like all variations of skin color on elves I've seen so far.
Tanned Elves like in anime can be as hot as Drow (I will admit to having a thing for high contrast). But the same goes for purple, whiteish light blue, snow white, grey, purple, goldish ...
I don't think I've seen much green, red or dark blue (actual blue, not going into purple) in Elves, but thode can also look good.
Why are we stuck with boring skin colors in reality again?

The more important question is probably what makes Dark Elves Dark Elves and what that means in the context of the setting.

They can be ethnically similar to other Elves but culturally ... not nice (e.g. Warhammer Fantasy).

On the other hand, Elves might be just as diverse as humans and one or more ethnicities could commonly be called Dark Elves.
This can mean that they share certain aspects like their skin color, but doesn't necessarily have to be the case.
They could share cultural aspects, which may or may not include a high position for one or more gods generally considered evil in their pantheon.
They could share an affinity for certain aspects of magic like Shadow-, Death- and Mind-Magic, which could be seen as dark or evil in the setting, which in turn could lead to them being labelled as evil, even if the magic itself has no actual morality.

Are Night or Moon Elves Dark Elves too?
 

Ddraig

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All the different "dark elves" have their own charm but why the hell are dark elves basically always locked into white or silver hair??
 

gogo7966

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All the different "dark elves" have their own charm but why the hell are dark elves basically always locked into white or silver hair??
contrast, i suppose. seen quite a few dark haired ones too though that could just be a continuation of the dark theme
 

Echimera

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All the different "dark elves" have their own charm but why the hell are dark elves basically always locked into white or silver hair??
Historically, probably because Drow were one of the most prominent early iterations of what got labelled as Dark Elves and got used as a template.
Maybe that's also where they manga/anime depiction is derived from, with the pure black skin shifted to a strong tan because manga typically are black and white, so pure black wouldn't work.
 
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